BLOOMINGTON — Fans who have cheered in past years for the area’s minor league sports teams have helped make those teams part of the fabric of the area.
After a 101-80 victory over the Rochester (N.Y.) RazorSharks Saturday, The Central Illinois Drive of the Premier Basketball League have added to that tapestry, winning not just the league’s championship title, but bringing residents the area’s first sports championship.
The victory makes the Drive the first of the Twin Cities’ four minor league sports franchises to secure a league championship.
The second game of a best-of-3 PBL Championship at U. S. Cellular Coliseum began as a tight affair, with Central Illinois (22-1) jumping out to a 7-2 lead on a deuce by guard Jemal Farmer followed by a deuce and a trey by forward Todd Peterson. Rochester countered with a deuce and trey by guard Jerice Crouch, tying the game at 7-all. But a trey by Drive guard Perry Petty at 8:38 in the quarter gave the Drive a 10-7, which they built on to with baskets by Farmer and guard Nathan Fuqua, giving the home crowd a thrill as the Drive led 16-11, with 4:29 left in the quarter.
As 2,469 fans watched, Rochester (19-4) roared back in the quarter’s closing minutes, adding two deuces while forward Todd McCoy added two free throws to tie the game at 17-all, with 24 seconds left.
A layup by Farmer just before the buzzer gave the Drive a 19-17 lead going into the second quarter.
That layup also could be seen as a light to a fuse, too, as Central Illinois opened the second quarter on an 8-0 run, beginning with a trey from forward Rodney Edgerson, followed by a deuce and free throw by Petty, and capped off by a deuce by Farmer. That barrage gave the Drive a 27-17 lead with 9:34 left in the quarter. Petty would add two more deuces to extend the Drive’s lead, 31-19 at the 7:48 mark.
From there, 6 foot-8 forward Aaron Williams became a one-man scoring attack for the RazorSharks, pocketing 14 points solo, including four free throws, to keep Rochester within 10, 39-29, with 4:23 left until halftime. Fuqua and former Illinois State player Anthony Slack contributed a basket each in the closing moments of the half, sending the Drive to the locker room with a 43-37 halftime lead.
Farmer opened the third quarter with three baskets to help push the Drive further in the lead, 51-41. Forward Todd Peterson added four consecutive threes – part of a 12-2 outpacing of Rochester that quarter – extending Central Illinois’ lead to 63-50 with 4:10 left in the third quarter. Former Bradley University player Daniel Ruffin added a trey of his own to give the Drive a 68-52 lead with two minutes left in the quarter, heading for the Drive’s 72-60 lead going into the fourth quarter.
The frustration Rochester felt during the fourth quarter manifested itself in a technical foul against RazorSharks’ Williams, who, after teammate Tasheed Carr was called for a foul, slammed the basketball to the hardwood, with 7:59 left in the contest. The Drive’s Peterson was sent to shoot the technical that resulted. But although Peterson missed the shot, Central Illinois owned an 81-62 lead.
Rochester had a brief 6-0 run after that featured two deuces from Crouch and a deuce from Carr, cutting the Drive’s lead, 81-68, at the 6:14 mark.
In the last minute of the game, Drive reserves got a chance to take to the hardwood, and guard Mike Malat made the most of it, adding a trey with 36.6 seconds left, giving the home team a 97-78 lead. Edgerson stole the ball during Rochester’s next possession and added a trey of his own, and was fouled, with 9.3 seconds left. He sank the subsequent free throw, leading to the final score.
“This is great!,” Peterson said. “This is what we have been working for all year – the goal we had – going into camp in December. This is just great.”
Farmer said after the game that “as I was about to take to the court in the third quarter, (Drive head coach) A. J. Guyton told me to stay aggressive…so that’s what I did.”
“We accomplished what we set out to do,” Guyton said afterward. “Our guys sacrificed and brought their natural talents together to make this a team effort, and that’s why we did so well.”
Guyton said he did not know until about six hours before the game’s 7p.m. tipoff that the Drive stood to become the first area minor league team to find itself on the verge of a championship. He joked that information “just added to the anxiety I had before the game.”
“But seriously,” he was quick to add, “This is a phenomenal accomplishment.”
Rochester head coach Rod Baker was not available for comment following the contest.
For power forward Anthony Slack, the Drive’s victory marked an end to a career, giving him the ability to go out on a high note. In March, the 6 foot-7, 220 pounder announced he was retiring as a player after this season. “It feels great to go out this way,” he said. “I played hard every day. I’m a very aggressive guy and I played hard every chance I got. I played my heart out every time I took to the court.”
His post-playing days will be spent mulling over coaching offers from a number of junior colleges, including the one he attended, Coffeyville Community College in Coffeyville, Kan.
“From the beginning, I thought this team would be winning the championship,” said Drive owner Jim Morris. “I really did. Except for our one loss, I thought we were going to go undefeated. I really did.” The Drive’s lone loss came against the Sauk Valley Predators on March 10, by one, 88-87.
“When we hired A.J., I asked him, ‘can you go undefeated?’,” Morris said. “He looked at me a little confused and confounded. I told him, ‘look, that’s our mission. I want to win every single game. Just win, Baby.’”
“I’m so proud of these guys,” Morris said. “They’re all just great.”